50 Athletes over 50 (Excerpt)

What does it take to continue to participate in athletic activities and sustained exercise later in life? How does it differ from managing these activities when you are in your 20’s or 30’s? Do you wonder if, or when, you have to give up your physical activities? You will be intrigued and inspired by the answers to these questions from Don McGrath’s book about 50 interviews of athletic people over 50 years old. True stories from his spectacular interviewees… (more)

What does it take to continue to participate in athletic activities and sustained exercise later in life? How does it differ from managing these activities when you are in your 20’s or 30’s? Do you wonder if, or when, you have to give up your physical activities? You will be intrigued and inspired by the answers to these questions from Don McGrath’s book about 50 interviews of athletic people over 50 years old. True stories from his spectacular interviewees will inspire you like no others. Many of McGrath’s subjects never imagined that they would be role models for exercise and good health. Still, by applying a common set of characteristics, they have broken remarkable mental and physical barriers to succeed. Peek into the lives of Linda Quirk who ran seven marathons on seven continents at age 55, and in 2010 plans to run across four of the world’s largest deserts; Sandy Scott, 69, who broke a vertebrae at age 65 and four years later won a state cycling 20k championship; or 75-year-old veteran tap dance Gene GeBauer. With U.S. health concerns at the forefront, the athlete’s way of life helps us to understand how to take responsibility for our well being. Lessons learned from these interviews can help us avoid doctors’ offices, stave off diseases, and have more joy and contentment. In his final summary, McGrath examines the behaviors and attitudes necessary for all of us to have health and satisfaction through an active life. If you want to know the secrets of those who are still going strong in athletic activities in their later years, then this is the book for you.